ESCONDIDO  Latinos would gain political power in Escondido under proposed geographic election districts unveiled Wednesday, community leaders and the American Civil Liberties Union said.

Latinos have struggled to win City Council seats in Escondido’s at-large elections, but advocates say their prospects will improve when the city moves to district elections next year — particularly because one of the four proposed districts was drawn to make Latinos a majority of the eligible voters.

“The votes of Latinos are going to count more than they ever did before,” said Anna Castro, a voting rights associate for the ACLU’s local chapter. “This is the majority district Latinos have asked for.”

Members of an independent commission drawing the boundaries said they intentionally proposed a Latino-heavy district in the heart of Escondido. The map unveiled Wednesday shows that 50.04 percent of eligible voters in the proposed District 1 are Latino.

The districts are being drawn to settle a voting rights lawsuit claiming at-large elections have harmed Latinos, and the settlement requires the city to have a majority-Latino district if possible.

“We were brought together to help create a stronger democracy and I think the districts we’ve proposed would do that,” said Andrew Carey, a commission member.

The commission could adjust the proposed districts in response to feedback during three public forums scheduled for late November. In addition, the City Council could reject the districts and ask the commission to redraw them.

Mayor Sam Abed said he expects the council, which reluctantly agreed last spring to settle the potentially costly suit, to embrace the districts unveiled by the commission.

“I think they’ve been done fairly and according to the court’s direction,” Abed said Wednesday. “I still disagree with districts, but this is the best we could do under the circumstances.”

Abed agreed the districts, which would be used beginning with the 2014 election, would nearly guarantee the council at least one Latino member going forward.

But the mayor predicted the districts would make it more difficult for Latinos to control the three seats needed to have a majority on the five-member council.

The percentage of Latinos eligible to vote in the other districts would be 25.6 percent (District 3); 16.8 percent (District 2) and 18.5 percent (District 4).

“The political balance will remain the same in Escondido,” he said, referring to an era of conservative dominance stretching back nearly two decades. “This will dilute the power of the minority by limiting them to one district and one council member.”

The mayor will continue to be elected at-large.

Councilwoman Olga Diaz — who lives in what would be District 3 — said the mayor underestimates the potential for change.

“You’ll have the potential of one new person from the Latino urban core and then I still have strong Latino presence in my district,” said Diaz, one of only three Latinos ever elected to Escondido’s council under the at-large system.

Councilman Mike Morasco, who is half-Latino, lives in what would be District 4. He is part of the council’s conservative majority.